Lela Mae (Thomas) Taylor

Lela Mae Thomas Lockhart Fleming-Taylor was born July 7, 1931, to Janice Alice Ready and General Filmore Thomas in Tie Plant, Arkansas.

Lela attended grade school at Cold Water, and high school at Pulaski County Training School in McAlmont, graduating in 1949.

Lela married Trent Lockhart in 1950. This union was blessed with two loving sons, Trent Sterling and Wesley Evans. 

In 1955, Lela attended Tyler Barber College in Little Rock, AK where she met and later married fellow student Lafayette Fleming. This union was blessed with two children, Meta Denise and Ian Lafayette.

Lela and her family moved to Benton Harbor, MI in 1960, where the family faithfully attended Progressive Baptist Church, and soon afterwards Union Memorial AME Church. Lela served in the choir, on the Trustee Board, and chaired many fundraising events.

Lela adored flowers and specifically roses, and she LOVED fishing.

Lela owned and operated Lady T’s, a barbershop and salon located on Empire Avenue, where she met many world-famous celebrities and local people who became renown, such as Gary Johnson, an accomplished NASA astronaut. It was common for her to read a newspaper or magazine and recognize someone she knew from the shop.

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